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Plenty of Comets had hand in win

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To paraphrase an old sports adage, great players aren't great all the time; they're great only when they have to be.

Crestwood seniors Chris Fazzini and Brady Gallagher showed their greatness against Hazleton Area on Tuesday night, scoring 23 and 20 points, respectively, as the Comets kept their Wyoming Valley Conference Division I title hopes alive with a 67-62 home victory.

Fazzini also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. His motor was in overdrive from the opening tap until the final buzzer.

In addition to his clutch scoring, Gallagher played solid defense on Hazleton Area sharpshooter Brett Barron throughout, limiting Barron to only one three-pointer as the Comets ended the Cougars' 14-game win streak.

Barron had made six triples against Dallas and eight against Wyoming Valley West in his two most recent games. Yet, he seldom got an uncontested look against Gallagher on Tuesday.

While Crestwood's two three-year starters certainly deserve praise for their stellar play on both ends of the floor, their Comet teammates also made solid contributions at key times in a game that Hazleton Area head coach Mike Joseph aptly described as "helter-skelter.''

Sophomore Robbie Hopkins knocked down a first-quarter jump shot to liven the Crestwood student section. He later put in a fourth-quarter layup after the Cougars had crept within four points, again rising the decibel level inside the steamy Crestwood gym.

However, Hopkins' most important shot may have been the one he passed up and gave to teammate Cole Wasco.

With time winding down in the third quarter and Hazleton Area climbing out of a 10-point hole to a 38-36 deficit, Hopkins was set to launch a three-point try from the top of the key, but he quickly reversed the ball to a wide-open Wasco in the corner. Wasco swished a three-pointer for his only three points all night.

"That three at the end of the third quarter was a huge shot,'' Joseph admitted. "We had a chance to take the lead just previous to that (shot), but couldn't make the shot. They moved the ball well and Wasco hit his only basket of the night. He was ready to hit it, to his credit.''

Burly Leonny Rojas, probably the Comets' fourth man off the bench, also made his presence felt in his spot duty. He cashed a Fazzini feed into a first-quarter layup as he was fouled. It was part of Crestwood's early salvo that set the game's tone and ultimately was the difference between the two evenly matched rivals.

Senior center Luke Casey, who's getting his first taste of the Crestwood-Hazleton Area rivalry this season after

transferring from Nanticoke, stepped up to score 12 points, including 6 of 8 free throws. The 6-foot-6 senior also joined the 6-4 Fazzini and 6-4 Brian Markowski in helping the Comets dominate the boards (40-24).

"They're a very big team - a physical team,'' Joseph said. "They rebound very well and they go after the ball very aggressively. There were times when I thought we had basketballs and we lost them. It was just a matter them wanting the ball more.''

Joseph said for his team to be successful at Crestwood it had "to hold its own'' in the rebounding department, much like the Cougars did in their 60-57 win over the Comets last month at Hughie McGeehan Gymnasium.

"They outrebounded us by four or five at our place,'' Joseph said. "It was much more than that tonight.''

Biasi, meanwhile, continued to put up big numbers against the Comets. His 36 points led all scorers, with 15 coming on 23 attempts from the foul line. He personally fouled out two Comets: Wasco and backup guard Josh Malkemes.

But aside from Jon Fogarty (12 points), Biasi didn't receive the same kind of help from his teammates that he got from them during their first game against Crestwood.

In fact, Hazleton Area's big men (Kyle Karmonick, Reynal Santana and Hunter Samec) combined for only six points. Karmonick was in foul trouble for most of the game, fouling out with 2:43 left and the Cougars trailing by six.

"Our big guys didn't get a whole lot of touches,'' Joseph said. "One area where we've had to get better as a team is offensive rebounding. With some of our shots not going in tonight, we weren't able to get to some of those long rebounds and loose balls to give us a second look at the basket.

"(The Comets') rebounding (advantage), them getting to more loose balls and them making the big plays at key times were the difference in the game,'' Joseph said.

Slippery when wet

The game was delayed several times to sop wetness from the gym floor near both baselines.

A sold-out crowd of 1,200 in a heated gymnasium, walking in and out from the frigid air resulted in condensation forming on the floor and players to slip repeatedly.

At one point in the third quarter, after Fazzini and Fogarty both wiped out going after a rebound, officials Bruce Weinstock, Jack Bonczewski and Charlie Majikes gathered coaches and athletic directors from both schools near midcourt to address the situation. Principals Rocco Petrone of Hazleton Area and Chris Gegaris of Crestwood eventually joined the conversation.

Weinstock told them that as PIAA officials, he crew was interested in the players' safety first and foremost. He asked Crestwood officials what they planned to do to keep the floor from getting wet. They decided to keep the gym doors open, put up portable fans and have youngsters towel the floor dry on one end while play was going on on the other.

All seemed to alleviate the condensation issue, which reminded some long-time Hazleton-area fans and a few Standard-Speaker readers of the time when condensation formed on the floor of the old McAdoo High School. They recalled one game in the early 1960s in particular when a McAdoo-West Hazleton game was suspended and had to be resumed at Hazleton High School.

Although Tuesday's game wasn't halted, officials did have the authority to suspend it if the floor situation didn't improve.

A look ahead

Crestwood and Hazleton Area might have to wait a little longer for a rematch.

The Comets are scheduled to play at Tunkhannock and the Cougars are supposed to entertain Berwick tonight, but with several inches of snow in the forecast, those games might be postponed.

If that's the case, they would be moved to Friday at the earliest.

If both local teams win their regular season finales, they would meet in a playoff for the Division I title on a date and at a time and site to be announced.

"Our sole focus is to get to the championship game first - whenever it is,'' Crestwood head coach Mark Atherton said. "We've got a big one left; we've got to go to Tunkhannock first.''

Led by high-scoring Austin Yanora, the Tigers took a double-digit lead at Hazleton Area last month before the Cougars rallied for an 89-74 win. Tunkhannock wasn't as close at Crestwood, losing 64-46.

The Cougars, meanwhile, routed Berwick 93-42 in their first meeting.

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